Wednesday, January 23, 2013

DIY Magic Wand

A good friend of mine sent a book for my kids called Room on the Broom. My daughter loves it. We read it almost every night. The rhyme is great, the story is fun, and the illustrations are perfect for kids.

The witch has a grey and yellow wand which appears on nearly every page. So I decided that my Ava might also enjoy having a wand. And by the way, these would make great party accessories for a fairy party, a witch party, or a wizard party.

So let's get started. You'll need cardboard and a striped paper straw, some yellow paint and a hot glue gun.

1. You need a star template. It should look something like the image below (minus the dashes) and be about 3.5 inches in diameter. Print it out and cut it out using an exacto knife and ruler. Or you can use a digital cutting machine or punch, and that saves you time of hand cutting.

2. Trace your template onto your cardboard and cut out 2 of the same star.

3. Score the stars along the invisible dotted lines on the unprinted side - going across the middle from inside corner to opposite outside corner). (I recommend using the sharp side of your blade lightly, along a metal ruler edge for less rough carboard).

4. Fold and bend on the score lines until it looks like this.

5. Using a hot glue gun, run a bead of glue along one or two sides at a time and glue all the edges together except the bottom.

6. Wrap a sandwich bag over the paper straw so you can now paint the star. Use acrylic or craft paint and paint both sides of the star and allow it to dry. It make take more than one coat of paint. (You can also coat it in glue and glitter, but just know that your house will be covered in glitter if your children actually play with it).

7. Remove the plastic and load up the end of the straw with hot glue. Quickly reinsert it into the cardboard star as far as possible for maximum stability. You can add a little more glue here and there if you think it needs it.

I'm an illustrator who enjoys all things creative. I blog to share projects I've made, things I would like to make, and other cool things I see around. I'm a DIY kinda gal with a thing for good design.